CRIME Officer arrested on felony charge

A computer and several discs were taken from the TCI captain's home.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A 39-year-old city man started his day by going to work at the Trumbull Correctional Institution and ended it incarcerated at the Trumbull County Jail.
Shortly after reporting to work Wednesday morning, Haril Hurst, a captain at TCI, was arrested on a felony charge of importuning.
Officials were vague when describing the crime.
"He is alleged to have made an online solicitation with an undercover federal task force agent," said Bob Beasley, a spokesman with the state attorney general's office. "The federal agent was with the Internet crimes against children task force."
If convicted, Hurst could face up to 18 months in prison.
Beasley referred all other questions about Hurst's arrest to the Canton office of the FBI, where officials could not be reached to comment.
The charge against Hurst was filed in Tuscarawas County. However, Hurst will remain jailed here until he has an extradition hearing in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, a spokesman at the Trumbull County jail said. It is not known when Hurst will appear in court.
Searching the home
Agents with the state Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, the Ohio State Highway Patrol, FBI and city police spent several hours Wednesday searching Hurst's one-story home on Southern Boulevard Southwest.
A computer and several discs were taken from the home, Beasley said.
"Our computer crimes unit will be examining what was taken from the house," Beasley said.
According to neighbors, Hurst is a single parent rearing two teenage daughters and a 10-year-old son.
At one point during the search, a woman from the Trumbull County Children Services Agency came to the home. It is not known whether the children will be turned over to CSB officials.
TCI officials said Hurst began his career April 2, 1990, working at the Warren Correctional Institution in Lebanon, Ohio. He was transferred to TCI on Aug. 23, 1992.
He is on paid administrative leave, a TCI spokeswoman said.
sinkovich@vindy.com